THOSE WHO PLAY TRICKS ON OTHERS WILL GET TRICKED

PROCLAMATION

“And Jacob served seven years for Rachel … Jacob said unto Laban, ‘Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled …’ And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah; and he said to Laban, ‘What is this thou hast done unto me?  Did I not serve thee for Rachel?  Wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?’  And Laban said, ‘It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.’ ”  Genesis 29:20-26 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Jacob left the land of Canaan to flee from his brother, Esau, whom he had tricked, and to honor his father Isaac’s request not to marry a woman from Canaan. (Genesis 28:1)  He went to the land of his mother Rebekah’s brother Laban.  There he met Laban’s beautiful daughter Rachel, fell in love with her, and agreed to work for Laban for seven years in order to have her for his wife because he did not have a dowry to offer him for her. (Genesis 29:18)  When the seven years were completed, Jacob went to Laban and asked for Rachel.  In the evening Laban took his daughter and a handmaid, Zilpah, and gave them to Jacob.  Thinking that he had married Rachel, Jacob found out in the morning that he was given Leah instead.  Jacob had been drinking at the wedding feast and Leah was heavily veiled when she was brought to him.  Laban tricked him because it was their custom that the eldest daughter, Leah, must be married before the younger daughter. (Genesis 29:26)  So Jacob agreed to work for Laban a second period of seven years, after he married Leah, so that he could also have Rachel as his wife. (Genesis 29:30)  Jacob, who had tricked his father, Isaac, in order to get the blessing due his older brother, Esau, (Genesis 27:19-25) was himself tricked, by Laban, into marrying Leah.

 

APPLICATION

There are a lot of appropriate old sayings which fit this situation, “Players will soon get played.”  “Those who play tricks, will eventually get tricked.”  “As you sow, so shall you also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)  The Lord God is not to be played with.  He does not like liars and deceivers. (Revelation 21:8)  People who deceive others will pay for it sooner or later.  Be true to yourself and present the truth to others.  All of the blessings which The Good Lord has in store for you are yours and yours alone, no one else can get them.  However, you can mess up and lose out on your conditional blessings.  So, do not pretend to be someone that you are not in order to impress others, or to get that which you do not deserve.  God is always watching.